Promised to the Crown Read Online Free Page B

away from the spray and biting wind.
    â€œI don’t think I can survive another two months of this,” Nicole said, staring off into the angry black water.
    â€œYou can and you will.” Though Elisabeth spoke with conviction, she knew that passengers died regularly during voyages of this length. She wrapped her arm around the shivering girl, tucking a strand of wayward hair behind Nicole’s ear. “It won’t be easy, but we will make it to the New World.”
    â€œI was mad to think this was a good idea.” Nicole rested her head on Elisabeth’s shoulder, weak after hours of torment. “I should have stayed home with Maman and Papa and carried on somehow.”
    â€œTell me about your home, and your family,” Elisabeth encouraged.
    â€œWe had a farm outside Rouen.” Nicole raised her head and looked at the horizon as if seeing the silhouette of her farmhouse against the sunset. “Papa grew wheat. It was a beautiful place. Rolling green hills, fat cows. But the crops stopped growing and Papa had to use my dowry to buy more land.”
    A cloud passed over the girl’s face and Elisabeth squeezed Nicole close. “The dowry had been spoken for, hadn’t it?”
    Nicole nodded. “His name was Jean. Jean Galet. He was a farmer like Papa. A good man. We would have been happy.”
    â€œI’m very sorry. And I’m sure he is, too.” Elisabeth rubbed Nicole’s back, knowing her heart has to be broken at the boy’s callous behavior.
    Nicole straightened her spine and stared forward. “He’ll manage as we all must. But there you are. Once our engagement was broken, our priest told me of the King’s need for young ladies—”
    â€œSo you decided to try your chances in New France,” Elisabeth summarized.
    Nicole nodded.
    A common tale among the ship-bound women: a father deceased, land gone bad, a dowry misspent, and a girl with few options. Outside of marriage, a woman had few ways to survive in the world, as Elisabeth was learning.
    Elisabeth volunteered information about her father’s death. Each time she mentioned it, the words tasted like ash in her mouth.
    â€œSo your mother encouraged you to go?” Nicole asked. The cold air forced color back into her cheeks, and her eyes seemed far less glossy than before.
    â€œHardly.” Elisabeth laughed. “My mother arranged a marriage for me. My dear friend helped me find a way out.”
    â€œYou weren’t pleased with your mother’s choice?” Nicole’s tanned face and large brown eyes looked up at Elisabeth.
    â€œNot at all. He was the most shiftless man in all of Paris.” Elisabeth felt like spitting to punctuate her words. She remembered the scene, only hours after her father’s funeral, when her mother announced Elisabeth’s betrothal to Denis Moraud over a cup of coffee, as though relating some piece of idle gossip. The resultant argument was unpleasant, but had doubtless entertained the neighbors. During the exchange, Elisabeth learned that her mother planned to marry Denis’s father, Jacques. Elisabeth had inherited her father’s even temper, but when she learned that her mother plotted a second marriage before her husband was even dead, Elisabeth raged. Connections, ambition, scheming: This was Anne Martin’s world.
    As her thoughts returned to Nicole and the ship, Elisabeth felt glad that she had severed ties with her mother, and that world, for the rest of her days.
    â€œBut your mother eventually agreed to let you go?” Nicole asked.
    â€œNo,” Elisabeth said. “I’m twenty-five years old. I didn’t need her consent. I obtained an affidavit of good comportment from my priest, and needed no more.”
    â€œI’m just nineteen,” Nicole said. “Papa wasn’t going to let me go. He kept changing his mind. Maman and I had to reason with him for weeks. I think he finally